What factors are driving the significant downturn in US housing starts, accompanied by a decrease in building permits?

Industry participants across the global battery raw materials markets gathered for Fastmarkets’ Asian Battery Raw Materials Conference in Seoul, South Korea, on April 22-23. Fastmarkets outlines four of the biggest talking points for lithium, nickel, cobalt and graphite

The global decarbonization drive is turning electrical steel into one of China's key ferrous products, with electrical steel exports surging in recent years, sources told Fastmarkets

A number of hurdles are still hindering the development of a Western battery supply chain, despite support from the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), according to Kevin Chan, US-based spodumene and lithium producer Albemarle’s vice president of the Asia Pacific region

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) will work with relevant parties to regulate crude steel production, with a focus on energy saving and reducing carbon emissions. It will also release guidance on crude steel output for different steel mills later this year after a national investigation on steel capacity

Increased construction spending could be unlocked early next year once the fraught US presidential election is settled, and steel participants are gearing up for a busy 2025

Prices for old corrugated containers (OCC) in Mexico were unchanged in April, with imported grades remaining stable month over month for the first time this year, Fastmarkets has learned. Prices for imported OCC held at $120-130 per ton. The firm pricing follows $10-per-ton increases in March and January as well as a $15-per-ton rise in February. […]

The EU's Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) and supply chain localization were hot topics of discussion for presenters at the Alkeemia Battery Forum, which runs April 10-12 in Venice, Italy

Turkey has announced a halt on exports to Israel of a range of steel, aluminium and copper products amid the continued conflict in Gaza, the Turkish Ministry of Commerce said on Tuesday, April 9.

E-Vac Magnetics has been awarded $111.9 million in US tax credits to advance the construction of its first US rare earth magnet manufacturing facility in Sumter, South Carolina, it announced on Tuesday April 9